Well, the first whirlwind week is out of the way. I managed to get everything done, except brewing beer, and get somewhat settled. I had my interview Thursday, which I feel went well. I hope to hear back soon on it, but I’m not waiting to take more action.

I plan on doing a bit of unconventional job hunting by going around to firms I’m interested in, meet the partners and introduce myself and hand deliver my resume and cover letter in a nice folder. Hopefully I don’t need to do much of it, but I’m determined to get a good job from the get go.

The other big thing that happened was we (my wife and I of course, even though she is currently in Japan) bought a new car. Yes, a new car. I really didn’t want to go that route while just settling down, but I did some shopping around and the used car market SUCKS. Most cars I was interested in were either high miles, bad condition, salvage titles, dirty, or a combination of all. To top it off, they were still around $13,000 to start! So I talked to my wife and said we have two choices: we can buy a lower end new car that will be covered over the coming years with a warranty. The other choice was to go super cheap, $5,000 or under, and just pray that the car lasts as long as it can. We decided to spring for the new car and not worry about anything for a while. Here’s the ride:

It’s a 2012 Kia Rio5, right off the boat from Korea. My impression of Kia was they are cheap and unsafe, but this car is quite nice. It’s got all sorts of bells and whistles for electronics, does fantastic on gas and has a 5 star safety rating. To top it off, Kia has a FANTASTIC warranty.

Now that things are slowing down, I’ve had more of a chance to reflect on what just happened. It seems weird to look at my life and know that I was able to get a job in Japan and live and work there for 5 years. It’s often the stuff that dreams are made of and now it already feels like it was just a dream. Although I certainly had things that pissed me off about Japan, I really do miss it there.

Speaking of missing things, I really miss my wife. Although I’m not in the military or anything, it’s still hard to be apart. It’s already been one week but it feels like longer. The only positive thing is with me here, I can take immediate action with any documents her visa may take. Since my wife is being a trooper about it, I picked this up for her in China:

After a long and uneventful trip, I’m back. Things really hit home on our approach to Burlington, VT airport. When I looked out the window and saw the airport area approaching and our wheels almost touched the ground, I knew my adventure was over. Since my wife is Japanese, I know I’ll be going back to Japan often. However, that part of my life working with a great group of people at a great job is done. I can only hope that the future holds promises that are just as bright, if not brighter.

Leaving my wife behind was difficult. Since her visa will take a couple more months to process, we had to go ahead and part ways for a bit. This is good in a way because I can get everything all set for her arrival, but it still sucks being apart. It’s funny, I even miss the occasional fights we had. No, it’s not fun fighting. But, the fighting we did was usually over important decisions in our lives. This is what I miss. I miss having guidance and companionship from my best friend. I’m thankful we live in the modern age and can communicate nearly everyday.

Life here will start off fast and furious. Today we have to do a lot of shopping as I need a suit for my interview on Thursday. I also got all my brewing stuff in and need to get my bearings on that. I’ll post a lot of update once we get started on stuff here. Time for me to rummage through my goodies!

My first sweep through the FAR book is done! All the topics are now “loaded” into my brain and all that’s left is to review non-stop until the exam. Since reviewing is reinforcing and cleaning up on a few unclear areas, it should be a lot less stressful. Since we’re heading into the thick of moving, this will be a great help.

As you can imagine, things are starting to get a little crazy here. We’ve got about one week left in this apartment and this is the week that we start unloading all of our stuff. I would imagine I probably won’t get a chance to post many updates on this blog for a while, perhaps maybe not even until I get to Vermont.

The only other big piece of news is the fact that I cleaned out my office today. Lately I’ve been having all sorts of mixed emotions and today only compounded it. It seems like just yesterday I was starting here, but in reality it was 5 years ago. To be at the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another is a very bizarre feeling. It has prompted a lot of self reflection and a reassessment of goals. Now more than ever, I’m determined to get back to Vermont and make the most of every chance I get.

As I said before, things are plugging along pretty well here with nothing big going on.

As I’m looking at it, I’m about a week ahead of schedule on my studies. There were several easy chapters and I managed to get through 3 in one day and 2 in another. If I keep up this pace, I should finish around March 17th or so. I certainly wouldn’t mind this as I have a few other things that must be done, one of the big things being moving. Also, I can start reviewing and preparing for the test early and start preparing for the other test in May.

I’m starting to get excited, anxious, nervous and a mix of other feelings about my move back to the States. It’s been so long since I lived there that I’m actually feeling like I’m moving to a new country. I imagine that I will have a little bit of reverse culture shock but I can’t anticipate what the problems will be.

I’m hoping that I can get the job I have an interview with and keep busy to help with the transition. This will help keep me focused and will ease my nerves about starting my new career without problems. On weekends, I’ll be brewing up a storm and baking a bunch of bread. I have already placed an order for my brewing stuff and once I get to the States I’ll bang out a few brews in the first couple of weeks. I’m planning an English style IPA (with Fuggle hops), a rye ale (as anyone who knows me knows, I LOVE rye), a Hobgoblin clone and an Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout clone (this one’s for aging until winter time, 11% alcohol). After that, my wife requested some sparkling hard cider, so I’ll work on that in order for it to be ready for the fall/winter months. Hopefully by that time she’ll have been long settled in the States with the nightmare of visa processing behind. Once I start the brewing and baking, I’ll get pics up and whatnot.

My brain’s about as awake as it will ever be so I suppose I should go study.